30. Sonic Youth – Murray Street
Throughout Murray Street, Sonic Youth did the nearly unthinkable: They took the relatively avant-garde, unstructured rock song and molded it into something buzzing with appealing melody. This is the beauty of the nine-track offering from one of the most notorious experimental indie bands of our generation. Thurston Moore had the chops to take his music-geekdom and almost flawlessly translate it to his own musical endeavors. Trademark dizzying feedback solos and intricately laced guitar work show Moore’s appreciation of influences like Television and Iggy Pop. Murray Street represents a fine slice of Sonic Youth’s submissions to the convoluted noise-rock scene, but at the same time captures the melodic sensibility of Moore’s impressive vinyl collection. — Aaron Kaczander
29. Franz Ferdinand – S/T
When my housemate played “The Dark of the Matin